Who Bombed Judi Bari?
After the Trial
by Mary Moore

May 2002

Now that the decade long, often postponed trial of Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney vs. the FBI and Oakland Police Department has finally ended it is time to focus on the question of why there has never been a real investigation of this case.

For reasons known only to those pursuing the lawsuit the question of who actually placed the bomb in Bari's car has been put on the back burner all these years and all efforts by a group of Judi's old friends to call for a long overdue official investigation have been resisted. This is very curious.

I am part of a group of about fifteen people-longtime personal friends and supporters of Judi Bari--who have consistently been calling for an official investigation along with the pursuit of a lawsuit.

Here are some things I know for sure:

• I met Judi Bari and became her friend in 1979 when she moved out here to marry Mike Sweeney who I worked closely with in the early anti nuclear movement. It was not long after I met Judi that I was informed by her of the physical and emotional abuse in this marriage. She spoke to me about this often in the early 1980's when her girls were quite young.
  
• According to other close friends of hers this abuse continued when Judi and Mike moved to Mendocino County in 1986. The bombing occurred during the week that Judi was moving herself and her two daughters out of the Redwood Valley property she had shared with Mike to a new home outside of Willits.
  
• After the bombing Judi told me (and others) that she was terrified that Mike would use the "notoriety" surrounding her to try to get custody of her children. This was a fear echoed many times to many people during the early 1990s. Due to Mike's background a custody battle could have resulted in both of them losing the children and Judi was not willing to risk that by fighting him.
  
• In 1999 a well researched article by Ed Gehrman in FLATLAND MAGAZINE printed the results by well known attributional scholar Don Foster after he examined several blind samples of documents written by several suspects in the bombing. His answer came back--Mike Sweeney. This article is available both in print and on the internet.
  
• Mike Sweeney has a history of violence including charges of a bombing and fire at the old air field off Finley in south Santa Rosa in 1980. This is a fact known to several people who were told about this directly by Judi in the early 1980's. This is another old case crying out for an investigation.
  
• Steve Talbot who made the documentary "WHO BOMBED JUDI BARI?" back in 1991 is the latest person to validate this charge. In a recent show on KQED TV he finally broke a decade long silence about what Judi had told him many years ago. In his documentary he suggested four theories about the bombing: The FBI or its operative; Someone involved with the timber industry; an anti abortion nut and the ex-husband. But it was not until last month that he went public with the information about Mike's past that Judi had told him over ten years ago. Both the documentary he made in 1991 and his recent revelation on KQED are available for viewing by anyone interested.
  
• Sweeney was never seriously investigated by either side in this drama-- neither law enforcement nor those who have raised over a million dollars to keep the much amended lawsuit alive all these years. For twelve years the focus has been on law enforcement--first as possible perps and later the just concluded case for false arrest. There are a growing number of people who feel that the focus should be on who actually placed the bomb. That list now includes the Press Democrat who wrote an April 9 editorial stating in a headline "Every effort should be made to solve this horrific crime." I agree.
  
• Over the years Sweeney has threatened lawsuits against both print and electronic media who have dared to raise the possibility that he should at least be considered as a perpetrator. His threats to sue led to local KSRO talk show host Pat Thurston being fired in 2000 as a result of her willingness to consider this theory. She was reinstated later that year. Sweeney has not once carried through on any of his threats to sue any of the venues courageous enough to stand up to his threats. There are now at least two books being written about this case by established authors who also want the truth.
  
• In 1990 DNA technology was in its infancy. Twelve years later it has already been used to free some people and to convict others. The folks who have pursued the lawsuit all these years now have DNA from the infamous Lord Avengers Letter which all sides agree was written by someone who was well versed in details of the bomb.

WHY is this DNA not being compared to the several suspects that have been named over the years including the ex husband? At the least it would eliminate the innocent and at best it would actually finger the guilty. What is stopping this from happening and why was the lawsuit silent on this point??

Mary K. Moore
Camp Meeker CA
(707) 874 2248